Time Management Planners

Yes 2009 has been fabulous for me, I hope for you as well. But now it's time to think about the year coming to a close and getting ready and organized for the new year. Hmmmm... what were your time management tools this year? Did they work as well as you wanted them to? There is so much to consider. Do I want ring bound (with a nice leather binder cover), wirebound, a page a day, week at a glance wow so much to think about! Sometimes, people just automatically reorder the same planner pages they had instead of taking the time to review how the system actually worked for them. Did it?

I encounter many clients who have empty planner pages we end up recycling and using as scrap paper. It could be that you were not disciplined enough to use the system or it could also be that the system doesn't jive with your style or way of thinking. I myself am very visual and love a paper planner. I have not changed over to an electronic calendar. Planning and writing go hand in hand for me. Love to see what I am shooting for. This year I am changing over to the RPM system from Tony Robbins. Love the concept and thought that goes with his time management planning system.

I urge you to Google planners, time management planners etc. Go shopping and look at the office supply stores. Ask your friends or coworkers what they use and how they use it. It could also be that you just never learned the proper way to use your system. Planning your time is so important. Whether you have a job outside the home or not. Time is the one thing we can NEVER get back so don't waste it. Everyone feels they are so busy and never have time for fun or time to do something for themselves. Well then you need to learn how to properly plan your time. It is so worth it. This includes time at work and time at home. Are you spending enough time with your family and friends? Are you accomplishing your most important goals? Do you feel your life is balanced? I know I struggle with this. It takes cues and reminders to cover all the areas of your life not just work and cleaning!

While you are thinking of what planning system to use think of all the areas of your life you need to plan for. Does the planner you want to use have areas for more than just work? That's perfect if it does. You don't want two planners, one work and one life, yikes. Simple is key also. If it's too complicated you may not use it. I can't stress enough how important a topic this really is. Don't you find yourself asking where have the years gone? Well with proper planning and organized time management you will fit in all the important areas of your life. Love your life. Don't continue to stress over it and wonder day after day why don't I get more done.

I hope this has been helpful and got you thinking. I've listed resources for you below to get started. I'd love your comments and feedback on what you have discovered works for you.

http://www.franklincovey.com, http://www.tonyrobbins.com/solutions/ProductsDetail.aspx?ProductID=619

Diane KonrathProfessional organizer, speaker, coach and decoratorhttp://www.organized-transformations.com

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Classic Original Ring-bound Daily Planner Refill: Jan 2010 - Dec 2010

The green and white pages that started it all continue to support those who appreciate a straightforward design and comprehensive structure. Naturally, these classic pages still feature quotes that provide you with daily motivation and inspiration One year of planner pages with our renowned Prioritized Daily Task List and Appointment Schedule All sizes now include two-page monthly calendar tabs Additional pages for future planning Classic (Page Size: 5-1/2" x 8-1/2") Start Date: Jan 10 - Dec 10

Do any of these problems ring true for you? · Are you collecting piles because you don't have a "home" for objects? · Are you missing time-sensitive deadlines, like due-dates on bills? · Are all the drawers full or do you need new categories for your filing? · You don't have any time or hate to file? · Need to do some archiving or storage of old taxes, etc? · Are you afraid to start for some reason? Does this have to do with procrastination or perfectionism?

Why is paper so pervasive, so daunting? Why do we have a national epidemic of paper? Consumerism puts the pressure on us to constantly buy-buy-buy. The Wall Street Journal states that the average business person wastes 6 weeks a year looking for things on his/her desk. That's over an hour a day and accounts for a loss of over $8 million in lost time!

· Sheer volume! The U S Postal Service sends out over 200 billion pieces of mail each year! If you aren't vigilant, you'll never get caught up. It grows and grows unless you sort and purge continually! A home office is more time-consuming than organizing a garage!

· Think before you print! Is it available elsewhere? Are you really going to read it later?

· Pareto Principle: 80/20: "I might need it someday", but are you aware that only 20% of what you file is ever accessed again?

· Clutter is unmade decisions, where objects have no "home", particularly paper! It doesn't enrich your life. Clutter costs time and money and can strain your various relationships. It makes it hard to maintain balance and can suck the life right out of you! Paper is NOT going away, as we heard years back. Be vigilant about keeping it out of your home and office as much as possible. It can own you if you don't deal with it regularly!

When you organize or throw items away, you gain the self-confidence and inner peace that completing a tough project affords, feel more prepared and focused and you have more time and money. You'll feel like you have your sanity back! Better yet, eliminate as much of your stuff as you can! The P-L-A-N © acronym can be used in almost any planning situation. Planning is at the forefront of accomplishing anything in an orderly, successful manner. Yes, what we're talking about is good old-fashioned time management! Let's get started!

Visualize : Where are your papers now? Counter? Desk? Kitchen or dining room table?

Close your eyes for a minute. Imagine your perfect home office, or bill-paying center or that all your photos are organized. What does that area look like? You know, you can't hit a target that you can't see, so you need to define what that target is! Good intentions or the desire to change are not sufficient without a vision, a plan. When you focus on your vision, you can turn that into reality. Make sure, however, that it is shared with others who will also be using the system, so they can follow it and its ideals. Base your vision on your values and what's important to you. This will give you a roadmap to create the plan, which will give you confidence and an increase of energy.

Plan, list, prioritize and schedule: These will be the GPS for your organizing project!

Identify and list your problem areas and make the decision to attack one of them. It can either be the one that is driving you the craziest or maybe a smaller one, just to get something done and give you that mental boost of confidence to carry on. It is also generally better to work on one small area at a time, rather than becoming overwhelmed by the entirety of a project. One of the tools you can use for planning a project is a Mind Map . This helps you focus, breaks a large job into smaller, easier to handle pieces and helps guide you where you want to go. In the center, write the project that you plan to work on first. As you use the Mind Map and complete one arm (or leg) on the map, start work on another, based upon the priorities you have determined.

Take inventory of the space available: what do you already have in the way of file cabinets, desk drawers, supply cabinets and bookcases? If the project you are going to work on is your photo collection, what do you already have in the way of albums or photo boxes? Inadequate or incomplete storage or inefficient furniture placement could also be the cause of your disorganization.

Define zones : where IS paper allowed? You need to designate a home for each type of paper and paper activity, such as art projects. It's not going away on its own!

Pick a date , put it on the calendar and keep this appointment with yourself! You now have an obligation of when you are going to start your project. Try to work for at least half an hour so you can see your accomplishment take form. If you think it will be too boring or tedious, have a friend to help make you accountable. Maybe you can even trade time to help each other, so you are both getting your paper under control!

Now we are ready to talk about the actual work of clearing the mess! Be sure to focus, focus, focus! Don't pause to take actions at this point. No phone calls, no emails, no reading!

Storage systems and methodologies need to be simple! They also need to be functional for you, because each of us operates under different parameters of what works and doesn't work. Remember: there is no such thing as perfection. Aim for "good enough." What that is changes throughout your life. You can be organized one moment, go through a period of disorganization, back to feeling organized, etc., all dependent upon the degree and intensity of life changes and what strategies you have for regrouping and getting back "into the groove."

Proper containers, tools, labeling, ongoing evaluation and maintenance to "tweak" the system will make it appropriate for you! No matter which acronym you use, use that philosophy to get your organizing rolling. Examples are: FAT™: File/Act/Toss; RAT: Retain/Act/Toss; START™: Sort/Throw/Appoint a home/Restrict to a container/Take back control.

SORT and PURGE: Have supplies available for sorting: empty boxes or banker boxes for temporary sorting, hanging and interior folders, recycle trash containers, shredder handy.

Do a "quick sort" initially. Generally, 2/3 of what you find can either be filed or trashed, with the remainder requiring some sort of follow-up. Jot the date in the corner of the papers you are going to keep, if they aren't already dated. This will make purging easier if/when you come across that document again.

Does this pertain to something major I am working on, such as a current project?

You will be making a decision on each item you encounter (photo, paper, magazine, etc): do I keep this? If so, where? Toss it? File it? Archive it? Don't try to sort every paper in every pile in your home at one time! Concentrate on the area you want organized first, then move into the other areas.

Toss all duplicates : mailings, ads, magazines - new one in/old one out! Toss junk mail, warranties and instructions for appliances and other items you no longer own.

Keep for up to seven years : financial and tax info, bank records, sales records of investments, CD's, tax return documentation. Retention guidelines vary by state, the IRS rules change over time and industry standards also change for certain employment situations. Be conservative: the IRS can audit up to six years' back taxes, but if they think fraud might be involved, there is no time limit. If you have monthly or quarterly financials, you can generally destroy them once you have received the yearly data. Information on your filed tax returns, 401K, IRA, home, vital records (such as birth and death certificates, passports, marriage certificates, power of attorney, medical records, Social Security, wills. etc.) should be kept permanently. Be sure to consult a lawyer or accountant for definitive information on specific "musts."

Keep data on the following for as long as you own the item : vehicles, insurance policies, investments, major appliance purchases.

Where depends on the type of document: Its "home" might be a file, an archive box or a safe deposit box. Make sure you place "like" things together, where you can find and use them again.

You need to have a place, a home, for all incoming paper: an "in box." This should be for "active" papers only, things that require you to do something. If you don't need to do anything with it, then that paper either needs to be filed, go to a designated "to be filed" location or tossed (recycled or shredded).

You must have a work area, where you have a good working surface, file storage and access to your supplies. If you don't have a desk, you will need to set up a paper "command center" somewhere, generally where you will do the work. If you pay your bills at the kitchen table and your file cabinet is located in the rec room downstairs, you might get the papers down to the top of that cabinet, but not filed inside! In this situation, maybe a rolling cabinet that can be pulled out from a hall closet might work best for you. Metal is better than plastic, but you have to do what works with your reality, primarily the space you have and your budget,

The main purpose of a filing system is NOT storage, but retrieval! Filing cabinets or drawers don't have to be "black holes" where things go in, never to be found again! Maybe you don't have your system set up properly for you. You want an easy system that is efficient, where everything is close at hand, so you can just swivel, roll or reach your way to it. If you are not using what you currently have set up, there is something wrong with it and you need to fix it! Is it too complicated? Too boring? Inconvenient? Make the changes and make it fun! You can use color-coding (not too involved!); change tab positions for ease of use; label your categories for ease of retrieval (black on white is best).

There are many different filing systems out there. Make note if you are a "piler" or a "filer." You can't expect success if you are going "against the grain" of your natural tendencies. Keep in mind that it's hard to prioritize from a pile, though. You would first need to sort through that pile to at least rearrange it into various action categories, such as to read, to do, to file, etc. There are systems so involved that you will never use all the components supplied. There are systems so wonderfully simple that you don't try them because you think it needs to be more complex. Self-purging filing systems, or a personal obligation to make sure you purge regularly, is half the battle of keeping up with the paper!

You will generally want to group financial papers together, such as bills, pay stubs, bank statements, tax statements, etc. Personal information will also be grouped, such as medical/dental, home décor or hobbies, warranties, places to go, etc. Hanging files with broad categories, such as Medical/Dental, with files within for family members, different doctors, insurance claims, etc. are great. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with the old A-Z alphabet, either! Be sure to place the files used most often in the most accessible location.

These you want to get systemized right away, because not taking care of these on time costs you money in late fees, makes you lose the best interest rates and ruins your credit ratings.

If you can, pay bills via autopay or online. This keeps the clutter down, payments are credited almost instantly and it's "greener" - you have kept one more piece of paper on this planet from being generated!

Again, define the zone! Designate one container for all incoming mail, whether it's a file folder or a tray. As soon as it arrives, put it in this stated place - home! Make sure it's convenient, with all the supplies you will need kept handy. Set up a weekly, bi-monthly or monthly time to attend to bills, which is usually dependent on pay cycles.

If you do nothing else with photos already developed, label the envelopes with the date range and the events contained within. If you are still using film or developing prints, follow this practice as you bring new photos into the home. There a many wonderful online sites available now to help you create photo books or scan photos of your children's artwork to be saved for posterity, starting at about $15. Acid-free photo boxes are very attractive and functional; with tabbed dividers for labeling categories, special occasions, etc. which makes retrieval easy.

Photo albums are more expensive, cumbersome and don't allow for some of the creativity that the online albums do. However, they are wonderful for certain memories, such as weddings. I, personally, am giving myself this year to break the photo-album cycle and try something new!

These are objects that can be dealt with at a slower pace, as time and energy allows. They are also easier to purge - new one in, old one out. In 2003, the U S Post Office delivered over 20 billion catalogs in the U.S. alone. That's enough for 70 catalogs for every man, woman and child in this country! Call the toll-free numbers on the back of catalogs to have your name removed from their mailing system.

When you do order something, make sure you note "Do not sell, rent, lease or trade my name" on the order form. Don't complete and return the registration cards when you purchase something. That just gets your information sold to any number of other companies!

The choices are overwhelming! PDAs can be expensive and time-consuming to learn all the bells and whistles and you are always fidgeting with them. They are the choice for many people, though. Paper calendars also have a good-and-bad side: wall calendars are great to see the whole family's activities at a glance, but that doesn't do you any good if you're away from home. Portable calendars are easy to take with you, but the boxes are usually very small. Determine what you need: how many time slots do you need to keep track of? Odds are, you won't need 15-minute increments for your home calendar, but you might at work.

There are some great online reminder/note/calendar systems out there right now, to use in conjunction with your laptop or PC. For on-the-go reminder-retrieval, "web-clipping", recipes, etc., take a look for such sites.

Realize that as times change, your abilities and circumstances change, so paper management systems have to change, too!! Otherwise, you are just adding to the chaos of whatever is going on at the time and you become even more overwhelmed.

Control what comes into your home! There is so much out there! Try to be selective and choose to read or deal with that which you enjoy the most. Carry some of that reading with you so when you get the chance and have a few minutes, you can read without stress or guilt! Cancel subscriptions that you don't have time to read. You'll save time, money, guilt and yet more clutter from entering your home! You could even subscribe to online newspapers.

Set up a routine maintenance plan to help establish new habits. When the mail comes, handle it all at a time that allows you to complete it, from making necessary phone calls to filing. Fine tune it and monitor it to stay in control. Nothing is perfect and this is a learning experience: what you like, don't like, what you are able to handle. Then, if a crisis arises, you will be under less stress and not so distracted, enabling you to handle it better. Sort out and purge constantly. If things creep back in that you just weeded out, you now know how to handle them! If you find that you are eventually ignoring your system, it's definitely time to revamp it.

Now is the time to determine a project you want to attack, get it on the calendar and get set for planning that accomplishment! Trust me: you will find now that you have more confidence to get the job done, have more energy to do it, be happy doing it and revel in the peace of mind that completing each project gives you!

Keep on organizing - one step at a time. If you see a pile, deal with it! Watch out for flat surfaces - they have a tendency to collect anything and everything! If you're done with something, put it away! If you don't have any more room for certain items, it's time to begin the process of sorting and purging again!

In closing, my goal in this article was to introduce you to methods of dealing with the mass of paper that inundates our homes. We've talked about why it's here; how to attack and control it; how to store it or make it disappear! Through creating a vision and well-laid plans, you've learned the process for making all that happen and hopefully see now that you are the boss of that stuff! Remember that real change only happens when you take action, and this action will allow you to find the peace of mind and serenity that you want in your home.

Do you think that you can go home now and be successful in eliminating one of the piles or messes that are driving you crazy? I know you can! Happy Organizing!

Rhonda McNett is a Professional Organizer, member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and owner of Sensible Organizing Strategies. Her company has a commitment to providing a supportive and rewarding organizing experience through client education, cooperative involvement and ongoing personal encouragement. Please visit http://sosbyrhonda.com to learn more about how Rhonda can help you!

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